Caterham drivers quotes about the Abu Dhabi GP Friday practice
Giedo van der Garde (in Vitaly Petrov's car for FP1: P24, n/a, 3 laps): "Obviously that was a pretty frustrating session, but these things sometimes happen.
As soon as I went out on the installation lap I could hear that the engine sounded different to my previous FP1 runs and from what I understand the problem looks like it's to do with the electronic boxes or the looms.
Heikki Kovalainen (CT01-#3 - FP1: P19, 1.47.418 min, 23 laps - FP2: P20, 1.45.782 min, 33 laps): "For me today was pretty good. In the first session we ran a number of the new parts we brought here and then did comparison runs in FP2, as well as trying the soft tyres on a performance run, and a longer stint at the end of the session.
The key to unlocking the potential of the upgrades is finding the right setup and with the amount of laps we ran over both FP1 and FP2 today we've generated enough data to give us a good chance to find something we can work with tomorrow.
There's a long night ahead but everyone's working harder than ever to keep making progress and hopefully we'll see some of the results of that tomorrow."
Vitaly Petrov (CT01-#2 - FP2: P20, 1.45.245 min, 36 laps) "I sat out FP1 and saw how hard the team worked to sort out the electrical issue that cut Giedo's session short.
It was all sorted out by the start of FP2 so we could get on with the program immediately. On my first run we had a few handling issues to sort out so we made some mechanical changes and saw an immediate improvement on the second run.
"By the time we put on the soft tyres the times were getting quicker with every lap and I think we found a balance that's working for us around here.
We've generated a lot of data from all the runs we've done today on both tyre compounds so even with the problem we had this morning we've got through nearly the whole program and are set up ok for the rest of the weekend."
Source: Caterham F1 Team
Share Or Save This Story
When Nico Rosberg won the inaugural GP2 Series title
Top 10: Ranking the best GP2 non-champions
Finland is out of F1 drivers for the first time since the 1980s – but why?
Eight shock Formula 1 team principal changes
The remarkable tale of F1’s unlikeliest team 'boss'
Kobayashi: “I think F1 underestimates the WEC”
F1 Bahrain GP long runs: Max Verstappen the favourite in Malaysia?
WRC Sardinia: Adrien Fourmaux heads Hyundai 1-2 after puncture-filled morning
George Russell: "Off the pace" Mercedes F1 car needs tweaking at Sepang
Why Takaaki Nakagami's injury is a bigger problem for Honda than it seems
The hidden F1 performance differentiator nobody is talking about in 2026
As Mercedes looks to deal F1 2026 knockout blow, will its driver fight reignite?
Top 10 F1 results changed by backmarkers – the passes
The problem with Ferrari’s endless team principal speculation
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments